Taltos and A Suitable Boy
January 26, 2002 (3:07 AM) ( link )

A brief visit to the Cambridge Public Library today resulted in my current possession of Steven Brust's Taltos and Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy. I should be starting A Suitable Boy after I finish The Ark Sakura; I think I'll have to figure out what other books to read with it so that they'll provide suitably light side entertainment for the main attraction.

The Ark Sakura is just getting weirder and weirder and weirder. I'm nearly done with it though; there may even be a chance of posting a review later tonight (though I doubt it), or, at the very least, some time tomorrow (probably late also).

Deliverance is actually quite good; as Auden would put it, I can see that this is good and with perseverance I am sure to like it. Dickey writes quite well; his descriptions of nature are particularly noteworthy. The dialogue is also fairly good, a sharp contrast to the weird, stilted tone of The Ark Sakura. And the action is clean, simple, and at times visceral. Unfortunately, perhaps because I've only been reading a few pages a day, I haven't really gotten into Deliverance. Perhaps the last few pages of it—I'm also almost done with this book—will reveal some remarkable twist that will throw new light on the whole volume. But I doubt it.

Finally, though I usually have no problem reading comic books, Alan Moore's From Hell is a tough brick to chew. (What kind of metaphor is that? Just look at the time that I'm posting this.) It's tough for me to just work up the strength every night to read it. However, I think it'll be a good counterbalance to A Suitable Boy, once I start reading that.

Until next time.